What's inside? Video script
Describing pictures is a great way to get learners to talk to each other, but providing an information gap so that they have a real reason to communicate is even better, I think. I’m Jo Gakonga from ELT-Training and this activity is called ‘What’s inside?’
All you need is a picture of a window or a door- these are easy to find completely copyright free on Pixabay or Unsplash.
Show the learners the picture and ask them what is inside. You might want to do a model with them as an example, especially if you want them to focus on a particular area of language. This is great for practising there is/ there are (there’s a table and a chair) articles (On THE table, there’s A lamp), prepositions of location (NEXT TO the lamp, there’s a book), furniture vocabulary (there are armchairs and sofas) and lots more. Give them a minute to think about it and look up any vocabulary they want. Monitor and help with this and then put them into pairs and ask them to tell each other what they think is inside. Obviously, what they produce will be different for each learner and it’ll depend on their level.
Lower level learners might say:
'Inside there is a table and fours chairs. There is a also a cat on the ceiling.'
Higher level learners might say:
'Inside there’s a large, airy room with pot plants all around and a chaise longue with a circular cushion.'
You could also get them to describe who is in the room and what they are doing (present continuous practice) or what’s just happened in there and how they know (present perfect practice).
Lots of ways to use this simple idea! Have fun with it.
